August 12, 2009:
Is a health care "public option" the first step toward a government-run, single payer-type system? Or as President Obama suggested Tuesday in his New Hampshire town hall, can a public option coexist with private insurance, similar to the U.S. Postal Service and carriers like FedEx and UPS?

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Send to a friendAugust 12, 2009:Is a health care "public option" the first step toward a government-run, single payer-type system? Or as President Obama suggested Tuesday in his New Hampshire town hall, can a public option coexist with private insurance, similar to the U.S. Postal Service and carriers like FedEx and UPS?

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You don’t get rid of a bad situation with a badly written law anymore than you would cut off a foot to cure a sore toe.

The bills now being circulated in Congress are badly written laws. And while the healthcare system is a bad situation it is not in as dire shape as the politicians would have folks believe.

The big driver in the cost of healthcare can be summed up in one word--technology. In the last 50 plus years the medical knowledge base has grown exponentially with new drugs, new procedures and new machines that can cure formerly incurable diseases, prolong life and give doctors the ability to learn more about the human body. And that all costs money.

When you think about technology think about your car. 40 years ago my buddies and I would change our own oil, put in new spark plugs and change the air and oil filters and fan belts. You did it every 3,000 miles because if you neglected to do so it would affect the performance of your car and eventually cause you more problems that could be more expensive to fix. There were no computer chips or fancy gadgets.

Today if you open the hood of your car you wouldn’t know where to start. Instead you have to take it to a specialist, in this case a mechanic. He has all the diagnostic computers and gadgets to fix your car. But those gadgets cost money. Just as the cost of car repair has gone up to pay for new technology so has the cost of healthcare.

When Americans contract a debilitating disease or have a serious accident they want every test and every drug available damn the cost. Hell the drug companies have cut out the doctor and now advertise directly to the public on TV or the internet. Patients then go to the doctor and demand that new drug because they think they have the same symptoms they saw on television.

Two of the worst decisions ever made were the ones that allowed drug companies and ambulance chasing trial lawyers to advertise on TV because they have just added more costs to the healthcare system. And there is no tort reform in any of the bills that might help bring down costs.

I might be wrong but I don’t think Americans would take to kindly to a public option that would inevitably squeeze out private insurance and force them into a government run system where that type of treatment would most likely be rationed. Because if everyone were to get the expensive treatment and drugs they now demand, the government system would collapse.

A public option is like the camel’s nose under the tent. Eventually the whole camel, in this case a government run healthcare system, will be inside. And then try getting him out.

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